Knowledge And Skills Come in Handy

When you're a gun person, it's also convenient to be a mechanical engineering professional with a few manual skills. That combination has allowed me to make a few improvements to various firearms without having to pay a gunsmith. Careful application of a buffing wheel on a dremmel tool has polished many a feed ramp to improve reliability and the chambering of hollow point ammunition. And with care I created a feed ramp on an inexpensive 1911.

I polished the feed ramp on my Hi-Power and shortened the trigger travel. The Hi-Power has a long trigger throw for a single action because of the magazine disconnect feature. In case you don't know there is a spring loaded shoe that must ride (slide) on the magazine or trigger movement has no effect. This results in the long trigger throw and a gritty feel. Both are not desirable. If the shoe is removed, the gritty feel goes away but the long throw remains. To shorten the throw I blocked the trigger so it wouldn't move back to it's original position. This was done by applying epoxy to a machined out section of the frame. Now the throw is acceptable.

An instructor in the gun shop I visited Saturday thought this was not safe. My modified Hi-Power is just as safe as the original, but he didn't have the knowledge to know this. Most, if not all instructors have little or no knowledge of how a firearm actually works.